


Deliverance of the Infernal Child

by Tweep



Category: Eraserhead (1977), My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Jaundice, Malformity, The Infernal Child, abandoned, apple tree
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-06 04:45:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 2,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4208427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tweep/pseuds/Tweep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twilight Sparkle brings Applejack a misshapen newborn, whose origins are unclear, to look after for the summer. Fic forever doomed to remain unfinished.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Title Page

# DELIVERANCE OF THE INFERNAL CHILD

Written und Illoustrated by Tentabrobpy


	2. A New Beginning

The sun is setting. The birds are beginning to stop chirping, and the crickets are here to take their place. On a dusty old dirt road snaking over the green hills of Equestria, Applejack trods home from a hard day's work at the apple field, having collected hundreds of apples in just one day with her brother Big Macintosh. Applejack is weary and looking forward to resting at the farmhouse, and hopes that through sleep she may gain enough energy to collect even more apples tomorrow.

After a long while walking, Applejack nears her home. As she gets closer, she spots her friend Twilight Sparkle coming away from the house! Applejack thinks to herself,  _Well, gosh, wonder what Twilight's gettin' up to at an hour like this?_ Twilight Sparkle turns her head and sees Applejack coming her way, and freezes in place. Twilight quickens in pace and looks to the ground as she moves forward. As Twilight passes by, Applejack notices she is looking very sweaty and unnerved. Applejack becomes a little bit worried about this, and stops Twilight in her tracks!

"Hey there Twilight..uh," Says Applejack, audibly afraid.

But before she can finish her thought Twilight sputters out "APPLEJACK! Oh, wow! Sorry I didn't see you there! Ahahahahahahaa..."

"Twilight, you don't look so good, is there somethin' bad goin' on around here?" Asks Applejack politely but nervously.

"Oh no, Haha, nope, everything is completely fine and normal!" says Twilight in an obvious attempt to cover up whatever's bothering her.

"Okay, seriously Twilight, whats this all about? What-are ya doin' at my house!"

"Applejack, there is nothing to worry about. I was just doing umm..a routine inspection! Yes, i am, inspecting houses for bugs, WELL looks like you're all clear! Seeya!"

"Twilight, wait--"

"I apologize Applejack but i really have to get goIng!"

Twilight Sparkle runs very fast away. Applejack still feels disturbed. But, she is used to Twilight getting up to weird stuff, and she decides not to pursue. However, as Applejack reaches her doorstep, she notices a strange little man bundled in bandages lying on the front porch.

"What the..."

She picks it up...and it starts screaming!


	3. Family Feud

"What in tarnation is that infernal racket!?" Squawks Granny Smith. "Woke me right on up it did!"

"Sorry Granny!" Yells Applejack, carrying the baby on her back.

Big Mac meets Applejack near the front door. Big Macintosh was home because earlier he had injured himself in the apple field and had to leave.

"Applejack, what is that thing?"

"Beats me! Found it lying out there on the doorstep...I think Twi left it, she was comin' up the road from here and actin' real funny!"

The baby, who has been screaming since he got in the house, starts screaming louder, and as a result everyone must raise their voices to be heard. Applebloom enters the room, licking peanut butter off her lips because she was eating peanut butter directly from the jar.

"WELL, WHATEVER IT IS, I DON'T LIKE THE LOOK OF IT!" Shouts Big Macintosh.

"WHAT ARE YRA'LL TALKIN' BOUT?" Exclaims Applebloom, who still has peanut butter in her mouth.

Applejack pipes up: "NOTHING THAT CONCERNS YOU!"

"APPLEJACK, WHAT IS THAT THING!"

"I TOLD YOU, YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT IT!"

"C'MON APPLEJACK YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE ME IN THE DARK!"

Big Mac says, "I THINK WE SHOULD GET RID OF IT, AJ!", screaming even louder as the baby increases in volume.

"GET RID OF IT? ARE YOU CRAZY!? THIS RIGHT HERE IS A LIVIN', BREATHIN', THINKIN' CREATURE!"

"LIVIN', THINKIN', BREATHIN', AND SCREAMIN'!"

"EVERYBODY SHUT YER TRAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Interjects Granny Smith, making herself the loudest of everyone. Nobody says anything, and the baby ceases its incessant wails. All eyes turn to Granny. Everyone is ashamed of themselves except the baby, who is just confused.

"Now, I dunno what this here's all about, but whatever it is, I don't want to hear ANY MORE OF IT! Applejack, you gotta deal with whatever yeh brought into this house, but don't let it disturb me no more, understand??"

"Yes Granny" says Applejack, her face red and her self humbled.

"Now, if ye'll excuse me, i am going to get some SLEEP.." mumbles Granny groggily, as she leaves the room.

The baby laughs at everybody!

# ❦

Following one or two attempts (in vain) to silence the baby after he suddenly begins crying, Applejack decides for the sake of everyone that she can take the baby outside and look after him until the next day when they will figure out more permanent arrangements. Applejack heaves a heavy sigh as the baby cries on, refusing to sleep a wink, and she swears she'll talk to Twilight about this.

The baby keeps crying. Applejack thinks,  _This is going to be a long night._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks my friend April for assisting with canon&continuity!


	4. Questionable Situation

Applejack walks sluggishly into to town, her eyelids heavy from lack of sleep, her furs mangled with straw from rolling around trying to get comfortable on the ground all night. There are plenty of ponies she passes by who ask if she's alright, and to them she insists: "Oh, no I'm fine thanks for asking! Had a bit of an insect infestation..spent all night tryn'a get them critters outta there, but it was well worth it to save aour house's uhh, foundation!" Applejack continues through the streets, fighting to stay awake, with an important purpose in mind. When she reaches the library, she was not at all surprised to find every shutter shut, and to hear the faint sounds of bustling within.

Applejack knocks 3 times on the door. "Twilight Sparkle! I have something very important to talk to you about!" She receives no answer.

Once again, she knocks. "Twilight! I know you're in there!" The noises from inside stop, but still there is no response.

Just when Applejack considers entering uninvited, Twilight Sparkle opens the door just enough to pop her head out. "Applejack! Hi! Sorry, I didn't see you there, I was too busy umm cleaning out the books!" says Twilight says. Her smile is painfully insincere and her eyes rapidly dart in every direction.

Applejack furls her brows. "Listen, Twilight, can ya cut the nonsense? I mean, I know you get up to all this slime and snails business and that your whole life is essentially composed of its strange effects, but I would appreciate if you atleast tell me what's goin' on before ya start involving me in it! I mean, I was kept up all night by that harrible--"

Twilight Sparkle reaches her front legs out the door and grabs Applejack firmly. She whips her friend inside and quickly slams the front door shut.

"Applejack," begins Twilight Sparkle, "I know what you're here about. Yes, I set that thing on your doorstep. Yes, I apologize, profusely! But you've gotta understand Applejack: there's more going on here than anybody knows! There's been unusual occurrences all over Equestria, things I'm legally obligated never to tell you about! It's getting harder and harder to keep everything in order, but trust me, we're all trying our hardest!"

"We?"

"Yes..Princess Celestia has every wizard in the royal court on this one, it's--"

"Celestia's involved!?"

"Of course! This is a national crisis! As a matter of fact, I delivered that..'creature' to your doorstep under the specific orders of the Princess herself!"

"What the? But why me?"

"I don't know Applejack, but you have to promise me that you'll cooperate and look after that thing until this is all sorted out!"

"Um"

"Come on Applejack! For the good of the empire!"

Applejack hesitates..."Well, alright Twilight. But only because Her Royal Majesty said so."

"Good! And, Applejack?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell a single soul about what you've just heard."

"Yeah."

Spike the dragon comes in from the other room carrying a stack of old books, and trips over himself and drops all of them. Applejack leaves.


	5. Short Chapter

Although the baby was screaming all night, he fell asleep at the unholy 7:00 A.M., and remains sleeping when Applejack enters her home. He lies on the table, his wrinkled eyelids shut peacefully, the thin layer of slime coating his body glistening in the sunlight. Big Mac is there to greet her: "Hey, AJ. Where you been all mornin'?"

"Hey Mac, I just went out to talk to Twilight about this whole baby situation," replies Applejack.

"What'd she say?"

Applejack chooses her words carefully. "Well, she admitted to putting it here on our doorstep, but wouldn't tell me why! She wants me to take care of it, though."

"Will you?"

"Well, as a matter of fact, I've owed her one for a while now, so...yeah, I guess."

"AJ, you can't be serious."

"She's my friend, Mac!"

Big Mac stares at his sister uneasily. "Alright, Applejack. But you're really going to have to figure out the noise problem."

"I will. How's your hoof by the way?"

"Not much better. Seems worse than I thought."

Applejack glances at Big Macintosh's hoof. Jaundiced flesh swells around his bony foot. Applejack cringes and says, "Maybe we should bring in a doctor or somethin'?"

"Hmm," is all Big Mac says in response.


	6. Lunch

The baby stirs. He opens his eyes to find himself staring into the bright blue summer sky, dotted with wispy clouds. He utters a croaky giggle, but then he starts crying. Applejack says, "Shut up back there!" but the baby persists.

Applejack, knowing at least something about rearing a child, has decided that she must feed and bathe and clothe properly the baby, in that order. In her simple way, she brings the baby on her back to the apple orchard to eat a fresh apple. Applejack sets the wailing baby down and kicks a tree softly so that only one apple falls out. Applejack goes to a pump a foot or two away and runs water over the apple, then brings it back to the child.

"Here," she tells him as she picks him up and attempts to stuff an apple into his mouth, "be quiet and try this!"

The boy's lips clamp and slide uselessly about the apple, having no grip to speak of.

"Come on. Just take a bite!"

The baby lets out a helpless sob from around the apple. He glances at Applejacks increasingly frustrated expression, and laughs!

Applejack is confused. She puts down the apple, and the baby, and figures she should go in for a closer look. Applejack uses both her hooves to pull back the baby's lips, which seems to disturb him greatly, and he subsequently begins once again to cry. "Well there's the problem!" exclaims Applejack incredulously, "You ain't got a single tooth!" The baby's shiny pink gums don't look as if they ever had teeth. He runs his tongue over the bottom of the upper gum, and Applejack notes that it's completely smooth. "Guess this'll take a little more preparation huh!" The tiny man wonders what this strange looking person is trying to say to him...

# ❦

## Applesauce Recipe

  * Prep time: 15 minutes
  * Cook time: 40 minutes
  * Yield: Makes about 1 1/2 to 2 quarts.



Apples vary in their sweetness level, depending on the variety and how late in the season they are picked. The amount of sugar you will want to add will depend on how sweet your apples are, and how sweet you would like your applesauce to be. This recipe is just a guideline, please adjust the sugar amounts to your taste. You can even leave the sugar out all together if you are using sweet apples.

If you use less sugar than this recipe suggest, you will likely want to reduce the amount of lemon juice as well. The lemon juice brightens the flavor of the apples and balances the sweetness.

### Ingredients

  * 3 to 4 lbs of apples (about 7 to 10 apples, depending on the size), peeled, cored, and quartered* (use apples varieties that are good for cooking such as Granny Smith, Pippin, Gravenstein, Macintosh, Fugi, Jonathan, Jonagold, or Golden Delicious)
  * 4 strips of lemon peel (use a vegetable peeler to strip 4 lengths, zest only, not the pith)
  * 3 to 4 Tbsp lemon juice (more or less to taste)
  * 3 inches of cinnamon stick
  * 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
  * Up to 1/4 cup of white sugar
  * 1 cup of water
  * 1/2 teaspoon of salt



_*To prep the apples, use a sharp vegetable peeler or paring knife and cut away the outer peel. Then quarter the apple and use a paring knife to cut out the tough core parts from the quarters. Or use an[apple peeler corer](http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=apple%20peeler%20corer&linkCode=ur2&tag=elisecom&url=search-alias%3Daps&linkId=3O4COPM7PRDNE35Q)._

### Method

  1. Place the peeled, cored, and quartered apples into a large pot. Add the strips of lemon peel, the lemon juice, cinnamon stick, sugars, water and salt. (You might want to start with half the sugar at this point and add more to taste later.) Bring to a boil on high heat, then lower the temperature, cover the pot, and maintain a low simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the apples are completely tender and cooked through.
  2. Once the apples are cooked through, remove the pot from the heat. Remove the lemon peels and the cinnamon stick. Use a potato masher to mash the cooked apples in the pot to make a chunky applesauce. For a smoother applesauce you can either run the cooked apples through a food mill, or purée them in a blender. (If you use a blender, do small batches and do not fill the blender bowl more than halfway.)



Add more sugar to taste. If too sweet, add more lemon juice.

This applesauce is delicious either hot or chilled. It pairs well with pork chops for savory dishes, it's terrific with cottage cheese as a snack or light lunch, and it's great with vanilla ice cream or yogurt.

Freezes well and will last at least a year in a cold freezer.

Read more: <http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/applesauce/#ixzz3eZhesjM2>

Applejack fishes out a spoonful of her concoction and gently feeds it into the baby's mouth. He makes as if to spittle, but thinks better when he suddenly realizes the power of Applejack's special secret recipe homemade applesauce. Nobody can resist the sweet taste of Applejack's applesauce, spiced to perfection. The baby struggles internally. He wants to make life hard on his new mother, but at the same time he loves this applesauce. Applejack feeds him another spoon and he swallows it with an unsure look on his face.

Applejack says: "There ya are!"


	7. Oh Jeez!

Applejack brings the harrible child into the barn. She knows if she were to bring him in the house again, everyone would positively throw a fit. Applejack sets down the baby on a soft bed of straw and goes looking through the back of the room. "It's gotta be here somewhere," she says, followed by "Ah-ha!" Applejack drags out an old galvanized wash tub. She blows for a second, hard and fast, sending up a cloud of dust. "This'll be the perfect size!" She brings the tub outside to fill it up with the same trusty pump then drags the tub, now heavy with water, back into the barn. Briefly, she leaves the barn again, then comes back with a sponge and body soap.

"Now," she says with purpose, "Let's get started!"

This whole time, the baby has been lying peacefully, his stomach full and his face pretty neutral. When Applejack approaches he doesn't think much of it...until she starts peeling at his bandages (using her teeth)! The baby panics internally. He is so shocked at this turn of events that he is frozen in fear, breathing heavily, his eyes going glassy.

Continuing to peel the bandages away, Applejack can't help but notice how the tiny monster has been paralyzed. She thinks to herself: _Jeepers Creepers, if this thing ain't the spookiest i ever laid my eyes on!_  This train of thought is soon interrupted when she spies a pulsating form beneath the baby's minimal garb. "What in the blazes..."

Applejack unwinds a little bit more bandage and her heart begins to beat faster. "Holy mother of...!"

The baby is practically heaving. Under his bandages, there is no skin. There is no muscle. All his internal organs are plainly visible, pumping and beating away. Applejack is disturbed and horrified, but, having bore witness to violent scenes in the past, she does not start puking everywhere or running away. For a moment she wonders if there are any serious complications that could be caused by a waterlogged heart and ultimately concludes that yes, there are in fact a few.

The abominable tot gradually calms himself when Applejack wraps the little bit she undid back up. He watches with fear in his heart as Applejack reluctantly dumps the tub of water away. He hears her mumble, "I'll think of somethin'," but of course, he does not understand.


	8. Minuscule Chapter

Applejack can't clothe the baby because he has no feet.


End file.
